Breast swelling and pain, especially in the week or so before your period are normal reactions to fluctuating hormone levels. As women reach their 40s, however this discomfort can sometimes develop into severe pain called mastalgia where the breasts become hard and extremely painful. A mastalgia attack can last for up to ten days. The causes are not completely understood but mastalgia may be caused by unusual sensitivity of breast tissue to fluctuating hormones leading up to the menopause.

If you do experience breast pain your immediate fear would be that the pain was due to breast cancer but in most cases mastalgia is a benign condition but you should still see your doctor to have a check up to make sure.  Then try the recommendations below:

 

• If you suffer from breast tenderness make sure you wear a comfortable supportive bra – one that does not irritate the nipple area as you move. 
• Make sure you get plenty of hormone balancing phytoestrogens, found in foods such as soya, chickpeas and lentils and eat them in their traditional form e.g. tofu, hummus etc not textured vegetable protein.  
• Cut down on foods and drinks containing caffeine. They have been shown to increase problems with tender breasts. 
• Up your fibre intake. Research has shown that there may be a link between constipation and a painful breast condition called fibrocystic breast disease. So make sure you drink enough water and have a good intake of fibre to ensure regularity. You may also like to sprinkle some flaxseeds (linseeds) on your cereal in the morning. Don’t, however, include bran in your diet. Bran can make things worse because it contains substances called phytates, which can interfere with the absorption of important nutrients, like magnesium and calcium.
• Vitamin E has been shown to reduce breast pain and tenderness in some studies. Eat foods rich in vitamin E, such as oats, sunflower oil, whole grains, soya oil and leafy green vegetables. You may also like to take a supplement for a couple of months to give you a kick start. (see the Resources Page to get a good vitamin E at 600ius per day)
• Eat some live yogurt every day. Breast tenderness may be related to an excess of oestrogen and the beneficial bacteria in live yogurt can help to reabsorb old hormones and also to increase the efficiency of your bowel movements.  (If you prefer to take beneficial bacteria in supplement form then the one I use in the clinic is BioKult – see the Resources Page).
• Increase your intake of omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids, found in fish oil, have been found to relieve breast tenderness and fluid retention. Take Omega 3 Plus (see the Resources Page) and eat more fish or sprinkle linseeds and hemp seeds on to your salads and soups.
• The B vitamins are of particular value if you suffer from breast tenderness because they help your liver break down excess oestrogen. Improve your intake of B vitamin foods and think about taking a B complex supplement for a couple of months. (see Resources Page X).
• Older studies showed that supplementing your diet with evening primrose oil that contains GLA (gamma linoleic acid) could reduce breast discomfort, although more recent studies have not backed this up. The suggested dosage is between 240 and 320mg a day. Do bear in mind though that evening primrose oil needs to be taken for about three months to be effective so you need to be patient.
• A number of essential aromatherapy oils, such as lavender, fennel and juniper can encourage lymphatic drainage and help relieve breast pain by helping to regulate hormones. Massage them on your breasts putting one drop of your chosen oil on a teaspoon of carrier oil such as sweet almond or sunflower oil or use a few drops in your bath. 
• The herb ginkgo biloba has proved to be effective according to a French study where women with PMS breast tenderness taking gingko biloba reported less pain that those taking a placebo. Other helpful herbs include agnus castus to balance hormones and milk thistle to help your liver process oestrogen efficiently, allowing excess to be excreted.  (Agnus Castus Plus on the Resources Page contains both agnus castus and milk thistle).

 

Breast self examination

One of the best ways to protect the health of your breasts is to examine yourself for lumps at least once a month by following the steps below:

 

– Lay down and place a pillow under your right shoulder. Next, place your right arm under your head.

– Using your three middle fingers of your left hand, massage your right breast with the pads of your fingers. Check for any lumps or abnormalities. You can move in a circular motion, or up and down. Make sure you use the same motion every month.

– Continue the motion, extending to the outside of the breast to your underarm.

– Repeat on left side.

– Next, repeat exam standing up, with one arm behind your shoulder as you examine each breast. Standing or sitting up allows you to feel the outside of the breast more accurately.

– For added precaution, stand in front of a mirror and squeeze each nipple. Look for any discharge.

– Take note of any dimpling, redness or swelling.

 

If you find anything that concerns you, schedule a visit with your doctor.  The important thing is to learn what is normal for you and to report any changes to your doctor. These changes may include:

 

• Any new lump. It may or may not be painful to touch.
• Unusual thick areas.
• Sticky or bloody discharge from your nipples.
• Any changes in the skin of your breasts or nipples, such as puckering or dimpling.
• An unusual increase in the size of one breast.
• One breast unusually lower than the other.

 

In addition to examining your breasts while lying down, you may also check them while in the shower. Soapy fingers slide easily across the breast and may increase your chances of detecting a change. While standing in a shower, place one arm over your head and lightly soap your breast on that side. Then, using the flat surface of your fingers—not the fingertips—gently move your hand over your breast feeling carefully for any lumps or thickened areas.

Lots of us have spent years thinking low fat but low fat is a big ‘no no’ when you are approaching the menopause when fat has never been more crucial for your health, your skin and your waist line. You just need to make sure you are eating the right kinds of fats.

Saturated fats, found in dairy products and meat can increase your risk of heart disease (which already goes up at menopause) and some cancers. You also need to avoid hydrogenated fats and oils in the form of fried, oxidised or transfats found in processed foods, margarines and fast food snacks as well as cakes, sweets and biscuits as they can increase your risk of heart disease and diabetes. But unsaturated fats found in olive oil and essential oils (EFAs) like omega 3 and 6 found in oily fish, nuts and seeds have a protective effect on your heart and will give you healthy hair, skin (less wrinkles) joints and improved brain function. EFAs also help keep your weight stable during the menopause, when there is a tendency to pile the pounds on especially around the waist, because they delay the passage of carbohydrates into your blood stream and keep blood sugar levels stable and insulin levels down. In fact EFAs are one of the best blood sugar stabilisers around and stable blood sugar levels means less likelihood of menopause related fatigue, mood swings, heart disease, depression and weight gain.

 

Take action

 

• To limit your intake of saturated fats reduce dairy products and eliminate or drastically reduce meat and eat fish and organic eggs instead.
• Trans fats should be avoided completely so you need to read the labels on products and don’t buy any which contain hydrogenated vegetable oils.  If you have been upping your intake of whole foods and fibre and cutting down on sugar and refined carbohydrates you may already have cut down on the transfats in your diet. Instead of margarine it would be better to go for a small amount of organic butter.
• Increase your intake of Omega 6 and especially Omega 3. You’re less likely to be deficient in Omega 6 because it is more common in Western diets and found in foods such as leafy green vegetables and soya, sunflower and sesame oils. Omega 3s are less common and found in the oils of cold water fish, such as mackerel, salmon, herring and sardine, as well as in hemp seeds, flaxseeds, nuts and seeds. 
• Aim to eat oily fish at least twice a week.  If you don’t eat fish you can eat sea vegetables (seaweeds) and up your intake of hemp and flax seeds. Flax and hemp seeds are a good source of omega 3. You might like to try a daily dose of 3 teaspoons of cold pressed flaxseed oil or three tablespoons or ground flax seed. You can also use hemp and flax seeds in salad dressings and smoothies. 
• Nuts such as walnuts, almonds, pecans, brazil and cashew and seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower, hemp and sesame are good sources of EFAs so try to eat a handful every day, perhaps as a snack between meals or sprinkled on your salad, soup or cereal. You can also use them in baking.
• If you are not keen on oily fish, then my recommendation is to add in a fish oil supplement with the oil taken from the body of the fish.  I would recommend that you do not use cod liver or halibut liver oil.  The liver is the waste disposal unit of the body and fish can accumulate toxins and mercury, which then have to pass through their livers.  Extracting the oil from the liver of the fish is likely to provide higher quantities of these toxins than the oil taken from the body of the fish.  (The fish oil I use in the clinic is taken from the body of the fish and is called Omega 3 Plus see the Resources Page.)

When you find your energy dipping, sniff a ripe lemon as the scent of citrus fruits can increase alertness. According to the Smell and Taste Treatment Research Foundation, other energy-boosting scents include orange, lime, grapefruit, rosemary, ginger, eucalyptus, spearmint and peppermint.